At last night’s banquet I sat next to an old China hand; he’s been coming here since 1985. He really appreciates the changes that have taken place. For me, the China of memory is a childhood picture. Huge squadrons of identically clothed androgynous workers bicycling through the smog. Drabness and g...
I’ve noticed that many blogs hosted on Blogspot are unavailable here. Behind the times as I often am, it took a quick Google to discover that they are indeed banned, and not just here, apparently, but also in Pakistan and India. All of them? I suppose that’s the only way. There appeared to be a redi...
This always happens. One busy day and all thoughts of keeping on top of the blogging vanish. So yesterday was the first full day of exposure to Chinese food (in between work). And I have not yet processed or uploaded the photographs. Nor, actually, do I have anything like a full list of everything...
Relaxing in my headphones with the iPod on shuffle and my mind at 11,000 metres, I was jarred rudely awake. Ella and Louis had just finished singing A Foggy Day when what should Frank Sinatra choose to sing but the exact same song. This is the first time this has ever happened to me in many, many...
Markets are fascinating. Wherever I go in the world, I consider it a real treat to be able to wander very slowly through the markets, seeing what there is, seeing whether I can identify things I've only read about, just soaking it up. Kunming is no exception and I spent a very happy hour this af...
